Overview
Released by EMI (Australia) on 14 April 1980, Salute to British Rock brought together sixteen recordings spanning British instrumental pop, the beat boom and the rock styles of the early 1970s. The selection ranged from The Shadows’ 'Apache' to Deep Purple’s 'Black Night' and Hawkwind’s 'Silver Machine', with a distinctive jewelled lion’s head providing the sleeve artwork.
The album was an adaptation of the British compilation A Monument to British Rock, released in May 1979. The Australian edition carried a different title and a revised, shorter track listing, reflecting differences in the recordings available to EMI (Australia). It retained twelve of the British album’s twenty selections and added recordings by Pilot, Hawkwind, Keith West and The Move.
The Beatles’ 'Get Back' opens side two (incidentally credited just to McCartney), while George Harrison’s 'My Sweet Lord' and John Lennon’s 'Imagine' appear on side one. A further Beatles connection comes through Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers’ version of 'Got To Get You Into My Life'. Together, these recordings place The Beatles and their solo work within a broader retrospective of British popular music.
